Go out by yourself, face the wind, hold up your head and thank the Universe for this world we live in.

When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.

🐾 Hedgehogs, Chooks, Nature, gardening and other rambles. In summer I always enjoy an early-evening walk on our smallholding. No need to get in my car to find nature, I have 8.5ha right here to explore, always hoping to see the Barn Owl or some Guinea fowl, but always enjoying the Bluegum trees and beautiful grasses and wild flowers along the way.

Hi,
I'm Maree Clarkson and after moving from Gauteng in December 2017, where I lived for 47 years, I now live on one of the most beautiful coasts in the world, the North Coast in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. I’m passionate about sketching and painting, animals, birds, nature, Moleskine note books, the beach, crystals, succulents, useless information, technology, blogging, networking, my MAC, my Land Rover, positivity, gardening and discovering anything new in life!
Living in Africa is something very special and I am constantly delighted, amused and amazed by the things I see, do and experience. Join me in some of these experiences.
Watercolours are my preferred medium. For me, the unpredictability and uncontrollable nature of watercolour makes it the most exciting and expressive medium of all. Having a certain picture in your mind and then seeing something slightly different, yet wonderful, come to life, is a thrilling experience! With watercolours, no two artists can produce the same result, the paint will just not allow you!

Sunday, 29 May 2016

After heavy rains we had in early April, many of my trees, and rocks, sported lichens and mosses, totally fascinating! And now, two months later, they are still there, but have turned pale grey. But understanding lichens is complex (to me at least!), so I've had to resort to an internet search to explain them.

Worldwide, over 20,000 species are known. A lichen is not a single organism. Rather, it is a symbiosis between
different organisms - a fungus and an alga or cyanobacterium.
Cyanobacteria are sometimes still referred to as 'blue-green algae',
though they are quite distinct from the algae. The non-fungal partner
contains chlorophyll and is called the photobiont. The fungal partner may be referred to as the mycobiont.
While most lichen partnerships consist of one mycobiont and one
photobiont, that's not universal for there are lichens with more than
one photobiont partner. When looked at microscopically, the fungal
partner is seen to be composed of filamentous cells and each such
filament is called a hypha. These hyphae grow by
extension and may branch but keep a constant diameter. Amongst the
photobionts there are those that are also filamentous in structure while
others are composed of chains or clusters of more-or-less globose
cells.

Given that they contain chlorophyll, algae and cyanobacteria can
manufacture carbohydrates with the help of light via the process of
photosynthesis. By contrast, fungi do not make their own carbohydrates.
Every fungus needs existing organic matter from which to obtain carbon.
In a lichen some of the carbohydrate produced by the photobiont is of
course used by the photobiont but some is 'harvested' by the mycobiont.

Lichens are classified with the fungi (being sometimes referred to as lichenized fungi) and can be found growing in almost all parts of the terrestrial world, from
the ice-free polar areas to the tropics, from tropical rainforests to
those desert areas free of mobile sand dunes.

Foliose lichens could be thought of as halfway between
crustose (two dimensional) and fruticose (erect). Though obviously three dimensional, they grow in a
more-or-less sheet-like form, but often with a lobed appearance. They
are not attached by their entire lower surfaces to their substrates.
Indeed, some foliose lichens are just centrally attached.

Another part of the same tree trunk, lower down, was covered in moss. Now Wikipedia says, "Mosses are small flowerless plants
that typically grow in dense green clumps or mats, often in damp or
shady locations. The individual plants are usually composed of simple,
one-cell thick leaves, attached to a stem that may be branched or un-branched and has only a limited role in conducting water and nutrients."

The same thick mat of moss also formed on a rock on my patio, but both of them never quite got to the thick stage and have now all but disappeared. The moss life-cycle starts with a haploid spore that germinates to produce a protonema (pl.
protonemata), which is either a mass of thread-like filaments or
thalloid (flat and thallus-like). Massed moss protonemata typically look
like a thin green felt, and may grow on damp soil, tree bark, rocks,
concrete, or almost any other reasonably stable surface. This is a
transitory stage in the life of a moss, but from the protonema grows the
gametophore
("gamete-bearer") that is structurally differentiated into stems and
leaves. A single mat of protonemata may develop several gametophore
shoots, resulting in a clump of moss. But they do need a lot of damp to continue surviving.

Most mosses rely on the wind to disperse the spores, but It has recently been found that microarthropods, such as springtails and mites, can effect moss fertilization.

Monday, 9 May 2016

I had an awesome visitor this morning, a Black-headed Heron (Ardea melanocephala). We don't often see them, mostly just after a veld fire, when they will snack on some unfortunate crispy tit-bits left in the wake of the fire. But this morning he was close to my garden fence and, as previously, didn't seem that perturbed about me taking some photos.

They mostly hunt near water, but will also hunt well away from water, taking large insects, small
mammals, and birds. It will wait motionless for its prey, or slowly
stalk its victim. It's fascinating to watch, but his patience long outlives mine, as he can stand motionless for longer than 10 minutes and by that time I think he's fallen asleep! Both sexes are alike, so I have no idea whether this
is a male or a female.

Monogamous and usually colonial, they breed in small, mixed-species
heronries. The male calls from a perch to attract a mate, raising its head
and giving a loud yelp, sometimes extending its bill vertically as it does
so. I've only heard that sound once, and I was totally thrilled!

Nature Journal

There are chickens in my Nasturtiums!

Pic of the week

Random thoughts

Until one has loved an animal, part of their soul remains unawakened.

::

Look at the bird, up in the treetop.Building its nest, with no time to stop.Hatching its eggs so smooth and so round,Then feeding its babies, worms from the ground.Look at the bird with beak for a mouth.When it gets cold, the bird will fly south.When it gets warm, the bird will return.Let's watch how the birds live, and see what we learn.

:: One of the things about blogging that I am most thankful for is that it has taught me to stop and take in the beauty of the smallest things ::

This Earth belongs to Mother Nature. The rest of us just live here.

The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway.

Nature poems

NATURE rarer uses yellow Than another hue; Saves she all of that for sunsets, Prodigal of blue, Spending scarlet like a woman, Yellow she affords Only scantly and selectly, Like a lover’s words.

Wildlife tips

If you have the space, also consider a wildlife pond, with shallow edges so that mammals and birds can drink or bathe safely. A wildlife pond offers invaluable refuge for frogs and other water mammals and insects

Weekly Green tip

By making simple changes in our everyday lives, we can improve the planet we all share. Over the festive season, USE NATURAL DECORATIONS: Forgo craft store supplies for beautiful, biodegradable decorations you can find in nature. Pinecones, gourds, leaves, and acorns are just some of the materials that can add seasonal ambience to your dining room.

Probably most of us have been in a garden on a particular day and time and felt a rush of well-being - of joy, being recharged, uplifted, a sense of healing, being in tune with the infinite. Gardens can clear away the fog of the noisy, fast, techno world, and the mindless focus on the clutter of trivia. Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace. In a garden one is not growing rare plants and trees… one is making memories… Gardening is one thing, maybe even the only thing, that brings people from all over this world, together. Gardening teaches us compassion - just walk past the ‘nearly’ dead tree every day, pat it on the bark and whisper, “just hold on for one more year”. It really does still serve a purpose - little raptors like the Fiscal Shrike loves the vantage point the dead branches give her and many birds will bask in the early morning warmth of the sun on a cold winter's morning in the very top branches.

Consider what you bring to the partnership and what the rest of nature brings. Gardening as a partner with the rest of nature means we have to let go of control to allow the garden to do its magic. When we allow ourselves to see the garden more in its own terms, to reach beyond ourselves to the garden, then we become more one with it, and no longer standing outside and above.

A soul garden is one where the forces of nature are more powerfully evident than our own power. This is honoured and expressed through plants that regenerate, and are thereby not as dependent on humans for their existence. These are often labelled as weeds. There is a dance between the power of the weed and us. Allowing weeds to grow in your garden is not just a new fashion, which calls for a wild patch alongside tame ones. Wildness is necessary within a garden, it's a connection between nature and ourselves.

The plight of our honey bees

For the last several years scientists have fretted over the future of bees, and although research has shed much light on the crisis, those in the bee business—from hive keepers to commercial farmers—say the insects remain in deep trouble as their colonies continue to struggle. Let's all do our bit - stop using pesticides, provide them with nectar flowers and water. Although some people regard bees as pests, Albert Einstein famously said: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."